Warm water used in a tub or shower can heat the surrounding air to a temperature more comfortable for the bather than the temperature of the air in the rest of the bathroom unless the water is at such a temperature and in such volume as to heat the entire room, in which case steaming of mirrors and windows is likely to occur. This is true even in bathing facilities of the type provided with an enclosing front wall and/or door, due to the tendency of heated air to escape over the top of the enclosure. If this air is confined to the space immediately above the tub or other bathing facility, then the complete volume of air within the bathing facility would be relatively comfortably warm, particularly for a bather taking a long bath or shower.
Confinement of the air to the space between a bath tub and the ceiling wherein it is installed will minimize escape of water vapor into the remainder of the bathroom and correspondingly minimize steaming of mirrors and windows. This is particularly the case with the common type of bathing facility wherein a tub, shower or combination tub-shower is fitted between the back wall and end walls on one side or end of the bathroom, and the front of the facility is closed by one or more sliding doors supported on the front rim of the tub and by a rail extending between the end walls at a height some distance below the ceiling. In addition, the resulting increased comfort for the bather is achieved with minimum wasted heat into the rest of the room, and thus promotes economy of energy and water.
A forerunner of the present invention is disclosed in Bowen U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,760, which demonstrates an appreciation of the considerations outlined in the preceding paragraph. The primary object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure for the top of a bathing facility which will possess all of the advantages asserted in the Bowen patent for the enclosure disclosed therein, and which in addition is more practical to manufacture, easier to install, adaptable to a wider variety of installations than the Bowen enclosure, and more effective in the manner in which it collects and recirculates the heated vapors with respect to the person of the user within the bathing facility.